GOV­ERN­MENT TO FORCIBLY DISARM COM­MU­NI­TIES

Last week, the gov­ern­ment or­dered forcible dis­ar­ma­ment of all com­mu­ni­ties in the Ke­rio Val­ley. Rift Val­ley re­gional com­mis­sioner Wanyama Mu­si­ambu said he has held se­cu­rity meet­ings and the dis­ar­ma­ment will bring peace. He said the gov­ern­ment has de­ployed po­lice, who will disarm any­one found with a gun. “De­spite urg­ing those hold­ing guns to reg­is­ter them, the com­mu­ni­ties chose to ig­nore that plea by the gov­ern­ment. We have no choice but to forcibly disarm them,” Mu­si­ambu said.

Pro­fes­sion­als, led by Liv­ing­stone Talel, protested in El­doret town and said they will sue the state over the vi­o­lence. “As a com­mu­nity we have suf­fered ir­repara­ble dam­age. It’s not pos­si­ble to re­place the lives we have lost,” Talel said

He said they want a re­sponse from the gov­ern­ment, fail­ing which they will seek le­gal re­dress. The Kenya Na­tional Com­mis­sion on Hu­man Rights has said it is in­ves­ti­gat­ing causes of the at­tacks and their ef­fects to com­mu­ni­ties.

Vice chair­man Ge­orge Mo­rara said cat­tle rustling has been com­mer­cialised with far-reach­ing eco­nomic and so­cial im­pacts. He said KNCHR will make pub­lic a re­port on its find­ings.